Mugging in Front of Soundwave Studios

Last night around 10PM our band was practicing in our rehearsal space at Soundwave Studios in Oakland when we heard someone screaming for help from the street below. This was remarkable in itself because we were playing pretty loud and we’re on the 3rd floor. Our drummer Tina, a nurse, heard it first and she immediately stopped and ran downstairs, and we followed her out the door.

Many people heard the screams and were in the halls and stairs going down to the front door. When we got outside, there was a woman sitting on the curb in front of the door, disheveled and badly shaken. A crushed can of energy drink lay splashed on the sidewalk, leaking into the gutter. Several people from the studio were already looking around and asking her questions. Another woman was on the phone with 911. Tina saw what she could do to help.

The woman had parked directly in front of the studios, a large warehouse with controlled entry, fifteen feet from the front door. She was either just getting out of her car or already at the studio door when a man came up behind her, told her he had a gun and to give her everything. That’s when she started screaming. Then he grabbed her briefcase. She didn’t let go. He headed for a waiting car, which had pulled up. He got in, and she still had not let go. The car started to take off, and she got dragged for a short distance before she finally let go and the car sped off.

That’s as best as I can make out what happened based on what she was telling people, and what others saw as they looked out windows to the street below. Other than badly scraped knees and being extremely shaken, she seemed to be alright. Oakland Police arrived five minutes after the call, and that’s when we left, having nothing more to contribute — we really didn’t see anything, just the aftermath. A couple people saw the car as it sped away, but couldn’t decide if it was red, black or blue, or whether it was an Eclipse or late-model Camaro. “Something sporty,” one guy said. The woman said her assailant was black. Obviously he had an accomplice. It’s so vague, I don’t how you can do anything more but call it random violence.

Rehearsal spaces are naturally found in places where people wouldn’t otherwise want to be, especially late at night. Talk turned to the wisdom of carrying mace or tazers. People come and go all the time from the studio, and it seems that whoever did this just waited for the weakest person they could find. Fuckheads. From now on, we’re walking everyone to their cars.